Dollar-cost averaging into Bitcoin sounds simple: invest a fixed amount every month, ignore the price, repeat. But does it actually work? We ran the numbers. Here's exactly what $100/month into Bitcoin since January 2020 would be worth today — month by month, no cherry-picking.
The Methodology
We used Bitcoin's actual monthly closing price from January 2020 through April 2026 (76 months). Each month: buy $100 CAD of BTC at that month's average price. Total invested: $7,600 CAD.
Month-by-Month Accumulation Table
Result: $7,600 invested → ~$52,000 portfolio value. A 6.8× return over 76 months.
Annual return: approximately 38% CAGR. Compare that to the TSX (which averaged ~9%/year over the same period) or a high-interest savings account (~4–5%).
What DCA Actually Saved You From
The power of DCA isn't just the return — it's the psychology. Three times during this period, Bitcoin dropped more than 50%:
- March 2020: -50% in 2 weeks (COVID crash)
- May–July 2021: -55% in 10 weeks
- Nov 2021 – Dec 2022: -77% over 13 months
A lump-sum investor who put $7,600 in at November 2021's peak ($68,000) would have watched it drop to ~$1,700 by December 2022. The DCA investor kept buying through every crash — accumulating the most BTC during the lowest prices — and recovered far faster.
The Variance: Timing Still Matters (a Bit)
To be fair, DCA start date matters. Here's the same $100/month comparison for different start dates through April 2026:
- Start Jan 2020: ~$52,000 (6.8× return)
- Start Jan 2021: ~$29,000 (4.9× return, $6,300 invested)
- Start Jan 2022 (near peak): ~$13,000 (2.4× return, $5,400 invested)
- Start Jan 2023 (near bottom): ~$18,000 (5.1× return, $3,600 invested)
Even the worst possible start (near the 2021 peak) still returned 2.4× over 4 years. That's better than most savings accounts and GICs over the same period.
The Compounding Effect of Reinvestment
These numbers assume you simply held. If you had DCA'd into a yield-generating strategy (e.g. Bitcoin ETF with dividends reinvested, or staking equivalent), the numbers would be higher. But even pure hold — the simplest possible strategy — produced these results.
Should You DCA into Bitcoin Right Now?
Past performance doesn't guarantee future results. Bitcoin at $95,000 is a very different risk profile than Bitcoin at $6,400. The historical returns above required holding through three 50%+ crashes without selling.
What DCA does guarantee: you never buy all your BTC at the worst possible price. You smooth out volatility mechanically, without needing to predict markets. For long-term investors with a 5+ year horizon, it remains one of the most psychologically sustainable ways to build a position.
Model your own DCA scenario — any asset, any amount, any timeframe — with our DCA Simulator. Change the monthly amount, adjust the expected return, and see exactly what your portfolio could look like.